Bounty Hunters in Space, the Story of Afterwards
by Kitsune incarnate
Summary: What happens after the end? To Spike, Ed, Ein, Faye, Jet, Punch, Judy, Victoria, and more? My own story of beyond the 'conclusion' of The Real Folk Blues, Pt. II. Get ready, you're in for a ride in Bounty Hunters in Space: The Story of Afterwards!
1. Cleaning Up the Mess

Hey there, everyone! Wow, it's hard to believe it's so long since the original chapter was first put. It seems like so long ago..

But now is not the time to reminisce! Now is NOW!

You may be wondering: Didn't I read something like this a while back? Wasn't that that story that a few people liked that was made a long time ago?

Well, it is. I promised myself that, since my writing skills had improved over the years, I would rework my Cowboy Bebop fanfic as best I could, to try and make it more something everyone as a whole could enjoy. There will be a lot of similarities, some differences, and maybe a brand new chapter or two if I'm so inclined to do so.

What I'm here to do, is present to you a newly-written, older story titled "Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards." To those who had read it before, you'll remember that I'm an avid fan of the Cowboy Bebop series, knowing almost all there is to know about it (according to the quizzes, anyway. I mean, out of all the quizzes I took, all pointing to uberknowledge…, though my memory of the series has faded in the recent months due to a change in my viewing)

My writing will be a little off, I have no doubts, as though my style has improved it still isn't perfect. I apologize ahead of time for this. Enjoy! Oh. Note: I don't remember what happened to the Swordfish II, so for all intents and purposes, I'm sayin' that it's sitting around somewhere near the building.

Oh, before I forget… Constructive criticism if you can? Thanks. Oh, and Cowboy Bebop and all related characters are copyright their respective owners. If sued, all I can offer is a shiney piece of scrap metal I found along the street, and a rock.

On a serious note, I'm fairly sure I'm within the guidelines. If I'm not, I would appreciate being let know, so I could take care of the issue myself.

Full Summary: Takes place after the end of the series. Spike, believed to be dead after his encounter with Vicious, is dropped off on the planet Earth in his Swordfish II. Is he really dead? If he isn't, will he be saved? Will Ed and Ein go on their own adventures in space as cowgirl and cow woof-woof? Will they eat piyokos? Will Jet cut the perfect bonsai tree? Will Faye ever pay off her debts? Is there a possibility for a Bebop reunion? Find out the answer to these questions, and more, in Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards!

--Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards--

Chapter 1: Cleaning up the Mess

6:30 A.M., E.E.T. (Earth Equivalency Time). Mars. 

The top of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate lay in ruins. Due to Spike's assault on the facility, both two-floored lobby of the establishment, and the top-floor room were completely destroyed. The corpses of syndicate members litter the bottom, second to, and top floors. Those who were not put down by Spike's bullets, were undoubtedly killed in one of the many explosions, putting the final death toll at an unknown amount.

Spike had begun his descent from the 'platform' in which he had his final confrontation with Vicious. He suffered a gunshot graze wound, a throwing knife wound, some wound to his head, and the most blood-drawing, a slash wound to the abdomen. He had made his descent about halfway, before stopping, and looking out amongst the startled syndicate members. He had pointed his hand at them. His index finger was outstretched, representing the barrel of a gun. His thumb, up, arced back a little, representing the hammer. His last action was to move his hand upwards, as if firing, while managing to say 'bang'. This was shortly followed by a falling on the stairs, as a pool of blood began to form around him.

* * *

The initial shock over the death of their leader had shortly thereafter began to fade. One of the Syndicate members by the name of Mark, higher-up in the food chain so to speak as can be told by his suit being a palette swap of the usual black, grey, and partially red standard-issue syndicate outfit steps forward. The palette swap was the only difference, really, as aside from that he shared the same light-skinned, short-cut haired, gun-carrying look as most other members of the syndicate. Still, he was higher in the chain of command than the standard-issued suits, and thus, found his chance to seize control of the situation. Despite it being their leader that was dead at the top of the stairs, the truth was, it was still business. Just as they had made the shift from the three Longs, they needed to make the shift from Vicious, and fast.

"Great!" Mark shouts. This shouting served as more than just an expression of anger and frustration; it was able to snap quite a few of the other Syndicate members out of there trance. He turns around to face them. "The ISSP is going to be here to investigate soon, and we have dead bodies, ruins, and nobody able to pay them off! What do you think the first thing they'll see… the dead bodies everywhere, or the fact that the top is leveled?!" he shouts. The question, though, was intended to be strictly rhetorical.

Another of them, a standard-issue suit, turns his attention to the Higher Up. "There's little point in worrying about that now. We'll just have to destroy all the evidence we can and pay them off when we restructure!"

Mark nods. "Then, it's time to start. You and you! Get a small, high-speed freighter overhead immediately!" He says, pointing at a pair of members standing about. At the orders, they say nothing, and run out. Presumably to do as ordered. He points to another pair. "You two! Take a small team and see if this guy had a ship! We cant leave any evidence behind! Maybe if we take care of the foreign body, we can blame terrorists for this."

It looked rather simple on paper, but he knew it wouldn't be as easy as it seemed. Though it was feasible to blame the situation on terrorists or the like, he knew that the Martian government would still be poking around, especially since they didn't have current access to the Woolongs needed to 'fund the investigation'. If he were to secure his position as new leader, now would be a better time than ever to show what he was made of. Though, that time he figured, was running out. After all, it was still nightfall when the assault first took place. Who knows how many ISSP officers were on their way to investigate?

Not but ten minutes after the request had been made, a small freighter, named the Mirage I, makes its way over the top floor. It had been marked with the Red Dragon seal, which basically told people and officers alike that if you mess with this shipment, you're going to regret it. The vessel lowers quite a bit, hovering above the mess. The pilot speaks through a radio, which is tuned to the secret frequency used by this particular syndicate only. "Sir! Here is the freighter, as requested! The second team has recovered the ship used by the attacker, which is already loaded!"

"Good, good." the 'new leader' responds. "Drop a crane or a basket or something, and pick this guy up You will receive further instructions once you leave the atmosphere." All was going as planned, thus far. In fact, it seemed rather easy. He turns to the remaining members. "One of you, get this guy in the freighter." he says, sternly.

* * *

A short time later, in Mars orbit…

"Sir, the Mirage I has entered Mars orbit. Awaiting further instructions." the pilot speaks through the radio.

Mark, who had thought long and hard about the next move, gives an approving nod, before speaking through the radio. "Put him in his ship, travel to Earth, jettison the cargo. When you have completed this task, return to Base." The reason for this plan? Earth, since its massive surface destruction due to the gate incident, had been a place where nobody cared to look. It was the perfect place to dump evidence, especially since it was likely to burn up upon entry to the atmosphere.

"Sir!" is the pilot's only response.

The ship, at a high rate of speed, soars through space. The ornate hyperspace gate is quickly opened for the approaching Syndicate ship, as it blasts through, heading towards the nearest Earth waypoint. Only minutes later, it exits from the hyperspace journey, turning towards Earth coordinates. In the cargo hold, the Swordfish II has been forcibly pried open, and Spike's still-bleeding body dumped inside. The pod is closed again, before the members exit the cargo hold.

At this point in time, the Mirage I begins to slow, as it nears Earth's orbit. Despite it being just Earth, the destruction of the moon into an asteroid ring proved tricky to navigate around at times. If they were going to ensure that the cargo be properly jettisoned into the atmosphere, and not end up in some sort of orbit, they would have to move to a dangerously close distance. And close they did become. So close, in fact, that they began to be drawn into the atmosphere of Earth itself. The pilot, though, carefully maintains as best he can a safe distance. He enters the entry code to open the cargo doors.

The console of the ship gives out a warning beep, before denying the opening of the doors.

This freighter, though a few years old, remains the top of the line in terms of technology and speed when it comes to small cargo shipping. With this, of course, came the 'downside'. The ship's main computer system was built in with an atmospheric detector in the cargo hold. To ensure the maximum safety of the cargo, unless docked with another ship, no power was put to the engines, or the external atmospheric conditions were similar to the internal ones, the cargo doors would remain shut, even when given the order to open. It was a feature built in to protect against accidental jettison, or loss of cargo in non-ideal conditions. Though a lifesaver to those who would use this ship for normal purposes, the Syndicate found it a mostly-unneeded addition. More of a pain, than anything useful, when it came to ridding themselves of unwanted 'cargo'. Due to that, an override code had to be programmed into the ship's computer. A daunting task for sure, but it had been achieved, and served as an invaluable modification to the ships' computers.

"Darn thing.." the pilot mutters, as he reenters the command, before putting in a special series of entry keys. "Initiate RDCS-M1-32 Cargo Door Override." he speaks aloud.

The console buzzes a little, and lets out two low electronic beeps, before the distinct mechanical and hissing noises of said doors opening are heard. With an enormous rush, the cargo, that is, the Swordfish II, is drawn out of the back. Instantly drawn into Earth's orbit, without anyone or thing to stop it, it begins its doomed descent towards the cratered surface.


	2. Destination Earth

Again, I'm not waiting for lots of reviews to update the first chapters. I know reviews will come in due time. Enjoy!

--Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards--

Chapter 2: Destination Earth

1:37 P.M.; Earth: Ed's house

Ed lets out her usual maniacal laughter as she rushes about the debris-filled, barren landscape of Earth. Though all Space-born people thought the planet as little more than a desolate wasteland which held little meaning in its present form, Ed saw it as nothing less than home. Even the magic and adventure which space held for her could never make her think less of the once-green planet it served to be. Not even the fiercest of meteor showers could make her think differently.

It had been at least a month, she figured, since her father, Appledelhi Siniz Hesap Lutfen left with Macintire on their quest to map Earth's geography. The idea of being a cartographer on Earth, though, proved to be a poor choice in occupation, as the daily meteor showers meant their maps would be constantly updated. Unfortunately for Ed, they had left her behind during the last major impact on Earth. However this time, it was far away from the orphanage run by Sister Clara, meaning it was back to Ed being alone. At the very least, though, she had Ein to keep her company.

Without her father, however, that longing to return to the crew of the Bebop would often come to her. And such, every day, she would track the Bebop's movements and activities, as she'd done before. Often she wondered if, by chance they would someday return to pick her up for more adventures in space.

Currently, though, her main focus was how to have fun. Save for the meteor showers, it had been extremely uneventful the past few weeks. There weren't even any police or ISSP officials that came looking for her, that she could borrow their vehicles from. Given this, she found herself with little more to do than run around barefoot, as she usually had done prior.

On the off chance she might come across something interesting, however, she chooses this time to roll over to Tomato, her laptop, which looks as though it had been modeled after the 1980s Apple IIc. Though nobody but Ed herself quite new where this computer came from, it could be conceived that, given the ancient technology scattered about the planet, it is likely the old computer's frame had been used in the making of this.

Preferring to sit on her arms instead of her legs, for the moment, she uses her toes to place her odd computer goggles over her eyes. She looks up at the monitor, as her toes type with rapidity, soon finding the Weather Channel. How she could watch TV on her computer was another mystery, but more likely than not, she would hack into the still-operating satellite dishes, or relay satellites in orbit, in order to watch such a channel via a form of media player. It was also possible that the computer had a build-in television, but the hacking of a broadcast signal seemed to be more likely.

"Let's see.. What's going on with the weather?" she asks, to nobody in particular. Her voice kept that higher-pitched, energetic tone as it always had, not having changed one bit. She glances at Ein out of the corner of her eye, sporting a bit of that wide, Snoopy grin. "Ed and Ein want to know, right?"

Ein, the receiver of Ed's questioning, lets out a single bark in response. Though he could properly express it to none but Ed, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi was starting to miss the crew of the Bebop himself. Whom he missed the most was Jet, naturally, as they had grown to be 'friends' in a way since his joining after being saved from Abdul Hakim (though, admittedly, he had played a large role in his own saving). He missed Spike as well, but mostly he was surprised at missing Faye, despite the clear animosity he knew she felt towards him. After all, who could like a lady that dislikes you so much as to eat your own food? Regardless, he did miss the crew, and sensed Edward felt the same way.

His feelings are interrupted, however, as the classic Weather Channel music plays. Despite it being about fifty years since the gate incident, and the Weather Channel really only now being needed to predict meteor showers, it hadn't changed its format very much. There would be the five-day forecast, satellite imaging of weather patterns, and every so often a televised broadcast about various modern-day Earth places and events. Really, the only difference was information about the phases of the moons and information about the tides being replaced by a screen dedicated to the probability of meteor showers, and an estimated count of how many fragments of the moon were left in orbit. One could only guess that the fragment count served as some form of sign of hope that Earth would soon be able to return to the state in which it once was. Without a moon, however, it would be unlikely that the once-green planet could ever be as it was many years ago.

The classic instrumental music is accompanied by a computerized, female voice. Advances in technology had made this voice come from a simple voice with odd tones to it, to one with a near-humanlike quality. It was soft-spoken and, in a strange way, reassuring to the remaining inhabitants.

"The weather in your general area.." it speaks in its soft, yet matter-of-fact tone, "..calls for clear skies, with a one percent chance for meteor showers. Temperatures for this evening will be in the low seventies, to mid-eighties." The screen changes suddenly, showing the five-day forecast. "Your five-day forecast calls for anywhere between a.."

"Bo-ring!" Ed exclaims, cutting of the voice, as she removes her goggles. She rolls backwards onto her bottom, and crosses her legs, "Ed thinks that there should be rain! Ed thinks that would be fun for a change, doesn't Ein agree?" she asks, as she glances over at her companion. He, however, appears to be preoccupied with barking at something in the sky.

Almost immediately noticing the actions of the canine, her ears perk up with interest, as a look of curiosity spreads across her face. "Ein? What is it?" she asks, though her only response is the continued barking. Eventually, she follows his gaze upwards, where there is a single dot, slowly growing in the sky. Suddenly, a look of panic replaces the one of interest, as she lets out a loud yelp. "Eeee! It's a meteor!" she exclaims, as she jumps to her feet. She begins running around in circles, flailing her arms. "What does Ed do, what does Ed do?! Ed is too young to die!"

* * *

12:45 P.M.; Earth's Atmosphere: Aboard the Swordfish II

Inside the Swordfish II, the instrument panel beeps radically, as it continues in its descent towards the planet. Due to the actions of the Syndicate, they had inadvertently activated the ship whilst placing Spike's body inside. It was only through some miracle, or act of a greater power, that the ship itself managed to maintain a certain angle in its fall towards the planet, in such a way that it continues to avoid burning up in the atmosphere. However, such luck was wearing thin. The degree of entry was gradually changing, causing the ship to shake violently. Panels from the wings had begun to peel away, and the undercarriage of the ship began to tear apart. If something wasn't done to correct the degree of entry, it was more than likely the Swordfish II would burn up in the atmosphere.

All of the noise and shaking, however, brought upon one thing of much surprise to anyone who knew what happened to him. Inside, despite being pressed against his seat by the incredible g-forces at work, the apparently dead Spike Spiegel's fingers twitch. Though one could pass it off as some form of a simple post-mortem reaction, anyone who would see it, would likely know better.

* * *

1:50 P.M.; Earth: Ed's House

Despite the danger, seeing debris and the lack of a giant fireball piqued Ed's curiosity. She knew she would have to get a closer look at the object. Given she had no telescope or similar view distance-enhancing device, she would have to resort to a more technical means of viewing. Rolling over to her laptop again, she places her goggles back on, and again begins to type with her feet. As a result of this, a weather satellite in local orbit begins to change directions using the built-in thrusters used to adjust camera angle and rotation. It aims its high-powered lens towards coordinates programmed by Ed, and zooms in. The image of the Swordfish comes into view.

Not realizing the danger of the situation, however, Ed rolls back, jumping to her feet. "Spike-person, Spike-person! It's Spike-person! Not a meteor!" she exclaims, and quickly drops back down, uses her hacking skills to fix the satellite, then open up a live AV feed to the Swordfish II. At the exclamation, Ein stops barking, instead running over to Ed's side.

Upon opening the feed to the ship, Ed moves as close to the screen as possible. "Spike-person, Spike person! It's Edward! Come in, Spike-person! Ed thinks Spike-person is coming in fast, is he ok?" she exclaims, both excited and worried at the same time.

Despite Ed's broadcasts, however, Spike remains completely out of it. The acceleration of the ship goes through the roof, as more pieces begin to tear away. The underlying electronics begin to be compromised, causing most of the instrument panel's output, including the live fee from Ed, to blink, before dissipating.

This causes the panic in Ed to rise. "Spike-person? …. Uh-oh! Ed thinks Spike-person is in trouble!" she says, quite loudly, as she picks up the controller, with which she had used to control many a ship in the past, and uses it to tune into the control panel of the Swordfish II, effectively hacking it. "Ed will save you, Spike!"

The Swordfish II responds to the remote hacking, through it does take a little bit to do so. Ed, showing near-expert piloting skills which would surprise even the ones who know her best, manages to maintain the crucial angle to a certain point. She slows the ship down to a safe landing speed, and angles it correctly, managing to bring it within feet of the ground. However, just as all is looking as though it would go according to plan, the rather high amount of engine damage manifests in a single spark. This single spark, though small, is a physical representation of the engine giving way. All power to the ship, and with that the ability for Ed to remote control it, disappears in an instant. Naturally, Ed loses control, as the ship plummets that few feet to the ground with a rather cringe-inducing noise.

Of course, Ed cringes quite a bit, before getting the classic nervous, 'oops' look on her face. She scratches the back of her head, as she looks over to the wreckage of Spike's ship. "Heh heh.." she laughs, nervously. "Oops! Pilot error!" she says in the light voice, as she had said when she crashed the police officers' ship months prior. This induces a whimper and whine from Ein.

"Oh Ein, Ed is sure the ship is ok!" she says, rather confidently, as she stands with her hands on her hips. The look on her face is quickly changed back into that 'oops' look, as the Swordfish II, having taken an incredible amount of damage from the bare-entry and crash landing, groans loudly as it begins to break apart. Metal starts falling everywhere, as it collapses on its side. This turn of events causes Ein to run behind Ed, and bark a bit.

"Um.. well.. at least Spike-person will be okay now! Eheh.." she states, with all the confidence she could muster after such a failure to pull off a successful landing. Her shoulders slump, though, as she lets out a small sigh. "…Ed will get the broom.. Ein, get the first-aid kit for Ed…"

Ein's only response is a whine, followed by a bark, as he runs off into Ed's home away from home.


	3. Cowboys, Cowgirls, and Cow woof woofs!

Looks like the story is getting off the ground. One reviewer already! Thanks to all those who choose to read, and I hope you'll like this new story! Remember when I said there will be a few differences? Scratch that. I plan on making quite a change to the story.

--Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards--

Chapter 3: Cowboys, Cowgirls, and Cow-woof-woofs!

Saturday, 3:15 P.M.; Earth: Ed's house. Three weeks after Spike's landing

It had been three weeks since Spike's crash landing on Earth. Despite having extensive injuries and nearly bleeding out, he had somehow managed to survive the ordeal, despite being in critical condition for so long. Only now, he had begun to show signs of improved health, as he had nearly died a few times in his recovery process.

Part of the reason he had survived at all, was ironically thanks to the Syndicate members. Due to their lack of knowledge of how to properly operate Spike's ship, they had crammed him inside in such a way that pressure was put on the slash wound, slowing the bleeding. The descent into Earth's atmosphere had only increased said pressure, making the bleeding slow even more. Of course, that wasn't the only thing that could be attributed to Spike's safety. Due to the fact that his ship had been modified and refitted from an old MONO racer, the pod managed to keep from breaking apart as the rest of the ship had, especially with the crash landing. Though it was rough on him to endure such impact, the pod had managed to heighten the chance of his survival, particularly during reentry.

Though, it wasn't as though he did all of the healing himself. Ed, being nowhere near an expert surgeon, had looked up everything she could possibly find about performing surgery, blood transfusions, doing stitches, the like. She was fairly grossed out by the amount of blood and work that needed to done to ensure he had the highest amount of care she could possibly give, and such, had enlisted Ein's help. He guided her, doing most of the cleanup work, and anything else that could be done without the use of opposable thumbs. The supplies were mostly things found around her shack she called a home, though Ein had managed to sniff out a few blood packs and medical supplies for use in the transfusion. She even found out how to make a defibrillator out of some wires and a few spatulas. Ed, knowing Spike and how he would react, had made a choice that she would never, ever tell him what they did, unless it was absolutely necessary. The less angry he became, the better.

In the end, Spike's wounds, though not expertly mended, had been sealed up to a degree where they could heal with few to no complications. Ed made sure to keep close attention to him, as she harbored some form of liking to him, and ergo didn't want him to die. Despite all of the potential tragedy, her childlike demeanor hadn't left. She enjoyed nursing Spike back to health, as it meant she could, in an odd way, play doctor. But even despite this, she did understand the serious of the situation, and did everything she could to the best of her ability to help. She knew Spike would pull through. In all the time she'd known him, no matter how bad things looked for his health, he would always pull through. Even when he was up against the Mad Pierrot Le Fou, in a body cast, he managed to come back and take him out. She had a feeling in her gut he would pull through this, as well.

Currently, however, Ed was no more concerned for Spike's well-being as she was the fullness of her own stomach. She cooks over a stove fashioned from an old high-velocity fan, which she had gutted, and put wood inside. She had that oiled and lit, before placing an old oven range on top of it. It looked rather strange, but it worked. Atop that, sits a stainless steel cooking pot, taken from an old restaurant in the local area. Inside that pot, Ed stirs some boiling water, Spam, oddly-cut fruits and vegetables such as cabbage, asparagus, tomatoes, potatoes, apples, corn, onions, celery, bell peppers, peaches, shitake mushrooms, and pears. Since Ed had not a green thumb, the items came from cans, which made the stew all the stranger. Despite it being such an unusual culinary menagerie, it carried an oddly appetizing aroma. Ed had little idea what she was doing, but whatever it was, she was doing it right.

Ein, meanwhile, is busy sleeping away the hard work he'd done. It had been a rough few weeks for him, too, and such he felt he deserved a break from the amount of work he did. His resting spot; under the patched-up couch on which Spike is currently resting.

Back in the kitchen, Ed's voice rings out through the entire makeshift home "Ed is in the kitchen with E-Ein! Ed is in the kitchen, Ed kno-o-o-ows! Ed is in the kitchen with Eeeeiiiinnn! Cooking up some good gumbo!" she sings in her usual, carefree manner, not bothering to pay attention to the fact that Ein was not in fact, in the kitchen with her, cooking up said food. Of course, whether Ein was in there or not, likely wouldn't have changed the song. Whether it made sense or not, often didn't matter to her.

In the living room, the long-unconscious Spike's nostrils move a little, as the smell of the stew wafted from the kitchen, into his nostrils. A single thought enters his brain: 'Food?'. Spike, regaining consciousness slowly, tries to set up. He cringes a bit, and lays back down. Despite the wounds healing, the pain was currently unbearable. Despite this, thoughts of food fill his brain, as he tries to figure out both the source, and the smell itself. It was unlike anything he'd ever smelled before, so far as he could remember and, though he tries, is unable to put a name to it. The rush of thoughts, however, causes him a blinding headache. He slowly raises his hand to his head, massaging it a bit. 'Ugh, I feel like I have a huge hangover..' he thinks. '...someone give me a Prairie Oyster...'

"Yea-ha-hah! It's food time!" Ed exclaims from the kitchen, starting her hyperactive act of running around in circles, oblivious to Spike's awakening. She puts on a couple of mismatched oven mitts, for her protection, and takes the pot off of the makeshift stove. She neglects to extinguish the fire however, preferring to try to find something to serve the food in. "Food food food food food!"

Spike, at the sound of Ed's voice, mutters something incoherent, as he slowly opens his eyes. His vision Is rather blurry, as he cant even make out where his nose ends. "Ed..?" he asks, quietly. "This must mean I died and went to hell…" he mutters in a bitter voice. Despite his pounding headache, only intensified by Ed's constant yelling, he manages to get a thought in. Despite his actions in life, he'd wondered what horrible, horrible thing he'd done to be stuck with a louder, more obnoxious version of Ed for all eternity. Though he knew this wasn't how he truly feels about Ed, his current situation would allow no thoughts other than such.

Spike's voice, though quiet, had managed to catch the attention of Ed. Hearing him speak for the first time since she begun nursing him back to health, her ears instantly perked up at the difference in the sound of her surrounding area. She rushes into the living room, feeling a mish mash of feelings, but the predominant one being excitement. "Spike-person! You're awake!" she exclaims.

Following the energetic voice, Spike glances in Ed's general direction. Though his vision had cleared a bit, he could just barely make out Ed on the other side of the room. "Ed..?" he asks, though this apparently pains him to do so. "What are you doing on Mars? … Where are we?"

Ed shakes her head a bit. "Spike is on Earth with Ed! Spike-person's ship was going whoosh and kshhhhhhh so Ed stopped you from crashing and burning into the ground!" she exclaims, adding sound effects, arm motions, everything.

Spike just shakes his head a little, in a confused way. Ed's hyperactive explanation of the events served little to clear in his mind what had occurred. The onomatopoeia only served to make things worse. "What..?" he asks, with frustration and a hint of confusion clearly shown.

Ed tilts her head to the side a little, as a curious look overtakes her face, as though she were going to ask someone something when she was sure that they didn't know the answer.. "You didn't know? Ein and Ed saw Spike-person's ship in the sky! Ed hacked a weather satellite and saw Spike-person was going whoooooeeeeoooooosssshhh through the atmosphere and super high speeds!" she exclaims. In a strange way of imitating the Swordfish II's entry into the atmosphere, she runs around with her arms outstretched for a bit, before stopping, and turning to him again, dropping her arms to her sides. "You were going to burn up in the atmosphere! But Ed saved you. Ein helped."

Spike lets out a deep sigh, as he slowly sits up, despite the pain. 'If I'm here, then they were 'cleaning up the mess'' he thinks. Memory of that final confrontation, however, both invaded and overpowered his senses. The memory of the loss of Julia, and the loss of his only rival, his apparent reason for living. He couldn't help but question why he was spared Vicious' fate. He thought him to be right, after all. No matter who he came up against, he would always live, and Vicious' mini-speech seemed to coincide with that. But If Vicious was the only person who could kill him, then…?

His thoughts are cut short by distracting sound of a loud rumbling noise from his stomach. Apparently, the smell of the Menagerie Stew had grown stronger, pounding its salivating aroma into Spike's nose. He would have to think more of this later, he figured, as his desire to eat had far overpowered his desire to think back on the past and find meaning. Regaining his train of thought he had before his sitting up, he glances into the Kitchen, where Ed is currently pouring the stew into bowls. "Thanks, Ed.. Is that food?"

Ed's wide smile returns, as she exits the kitchen with two bowls. She sets one bowl down on the table crafted from various parts of an old airplane fuselage, and sets the other on the floor. She waited not for an answer from Spike as to whether he wanted any or not, because since he hadn't eaten, she figured he'd be hungry enough for anything, even this food. She rushes back into the kitchen. "Ein! Spike-person is awake! Go see him!!" she calls loudly.

Spike glances over at the bowl, as he regains complete eyesight. He sort of just stares at it, wondering what the green color and floating chunks had come from. This made a sort of strange 'you expect me to eat this mess?' look come across the face, as it had when their full course dinner comprised of all Shitake Mushroom dishes that many months ago. His stomach would not be denied, however, as it lets out a loud rumble. Obviously, it didn't care how toxic it looked. Food was food to it, and there was nothing he could do to change it. 'If the food kills me.. Well.. I've died twice already now.' he thinks. Reluctantly, he picks up the bowl with one hand, and begins to 'drink' it. By the time he's done, Ed has just barely returned with her own bowl. "Not bad, Ed.."

"Wooowooowoow! Spike-person must have been real hungry to eat all that food!" Ed states, with a mild level of surprise. She sits on the ground, however, and begins eating her own food.

Ein, meanwhile, had finally awoken from his nap. The Pembroke Welsh Corgi sniffs a bit, interested in the new smell of food. As he crawls out from under the couch, though he instantly notices Spike in his up and about stat. He stands on his hind legs, attempting to get as close to Spike as possible, and lets out a bark.

Spike, now feeling better after such a hearty lunch, an not preoccupied by any other event, looks down at the Data Dog. He scratches gently behind his ears. "You're still alive. Looks like Ed has been feeding you instead of eating you." he says, bringing up a whine from Ein in return. Ed had been too busy stuffing her face to notice the comment.

* * *

A few minutes later...

As they finish eating, Ed glances up, a thought returning to her. "Spike-person! Ed has been thinking.. When Ed was on the Bebop, Ed hardly went on any bounty-head captures! Ed had to stay on the ship all the time.."

Spike drops the empty bowl on the floor, and gives Ed a wary look. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew where this was leading to. Before she can finish her question, he cuts her off. "Bounty-hinting isn't for kids." he states simply.

"Ed isn't a kid! Ed is a young woman!" she protests, as she stands. "Let Ed be a cowgirl!!" she whines, beginning to grind on Spike's nerves again. "Let Ed let Ed let Ed! Ed wants tooo.." she whines, a bit louder.

Spike growls a little, and lays back down, starting to rub his forehead. "Fine! Be a cowgirl if you want, just don't get in my way." he says in his angry voice. He closes his eyes, and sighs a bit. "….."

At Spike's 'approval' of her suggestion, Ed makes a happy noise, and again, starts to run around with her hands flailing above her head. "Eeee! Ed is an official cowgirl now! And Ein is an official cow woof-woof!"

'Let the fun begin.' Spike thinks, as he tries his best to relax and heal, despite Ed's over activity.


	4. Big Shot Bounty!

Hey people. The next chapter is in. Happy reading! Constructive criticism and pie please. Ah.. and blah blah blah copyright blah blah blah belongs to owners blah blah blah story is mine.

--Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards--

Chapter 4: Big Shot Bounty!

Saturday: 12:01 P.M.; Earth: Ed's house, a week after Spike's awakening

Ed's computer is activated, as she again manages to get television through her laptop.

* * *

A comically-drawn gun moves from the left of the screen to the center, before aiming at the viewer, and firing with an equally comical noise. A pink and light green, comic-book type action animation appears for a few seconds, before the Big Shot logo appears. The logo reads: 'Big Shot For THE Bounty Hunters'. A song called American Money begins to play; however, people would only know this by name if they bought their official return CD: The Best of Big Shot!

Punch and Judy back onto the screen from the sides, to the front of the logo, standing back to back. They are dressed in their usual attire: Punch in an off-white cowboy hat with black pants, a white shirt with the collar up, and a purple vest; Judy in a white cowboy hat, red earrings, a red handkerchief tied around her neck, an open bolero jacket with nothing underneath, and a skirt held up by a belt with a heart-shaped buckle.

"Hey amigos! All you three hundred thousand bounty hunters in this star system. How're y'all doin!" Punch says, his standard opening line. He has retained the faked western and Mexican combined accent. The two of them move away from each other simultaneously.

Judy laughs, as she turns to the screen. Her large, blonde hair, somewhat reminiscent of Dolly Parton's, bobs a bit during that action. "We're back on the air thanks to popular demand and very generous paycheck offerings!" Her accent, unlike Punch's, appears to be authentic western. She blows a kiss to the screen, and winks. "So thanks all you bounty hunters out there for wanting to bring us back!" She claps her hands together as she steps back, appearing rather excited to be at work again. "It's time to round us up some good bounties today!" She pretends her finger is a pistol, as she had done many times before, and fires at the camera. "Pa-choo!"

Punch laughs a bit, as he tips his hat backwards a small degree with his thumb.. "That's right, amigos! Here's our first varmint now!"

The screen changes, showing modern-day text superimposed over either a painted or digitally created sheet of old wood. It was so obvious that it was a digitally-created prop, that one could wonder why they would bother doing such a thing in their big comeback. Still the text, white in color, reads 'Today's Menu'

The screen again changes, showing an older-looking man in front of a police lineup wall-type thing. His eyes appear rather droopy, as though he's completely out of it, or uninterested in his surroundings. His hair is black, in heavy dread locks, and he has a strangely-shaven mustache that curves around to meet his equally strangely-shaven beard. To the right of his head, superimposed text reads 'BIG SHOT', to the left, a similar text reads 'TODAY'S THE FIRST PERSON' at one word per line. Below his head, is an ID plate. It reads; Domino Walker. Domi. : Mars. Height: 5 feet 10 inches. Weight: 243 pounds. Age: Unknown. Despite his weight to height ratio, he appears to be somewhat overweight, however it is possible though unlikely he's at an older age.

In a change from the usual format, the picture zooms out a bit, enough for Punch and Judy to have room on either side to be on-screen, without obstructing any view of the bounty head.

"Ooh I remember him from a while ago! Isn't he..." Judy begins as she looks up thoughtfully. She has one arm crossed under her chest, as the elbow from her other arm rests on the first's hand. She taps her cheek, obviously trying to recall Domino's last appearance.

"That's right!" Punch says, as he looks from Judy to the camera. "Domino Walker has resurfaced! He's wanted for the selling of illegal mushrooms, but this time the bounty on his head is more than double!"

Domino's mug shot disappears, as the two move to take the center screen. The backdrop is now of the desert, with plateaus scattered here and there. The two of them are standing in front of text that reads 'Big Shot' in bold, red letters.

After repositioning herself to face the screen, Judy claps her hands. "Really? Wow! How much is he worth now?" she asks as she looks over to her co-host.

Punch laughs, yet again. "I'm glad you asked that, because Domino Walker is now worth a whopping..." A dramatic pause, as he tries to build up the suspension for the audience. "2.31 million woolongs!" Upon finishing that sentence, it's clear that interest had dropped completely amongst bounty hunters looking for a big bounty. At this point, both Punch and Judy felt a sort of twinge, as they shared the same thought: 'This is our return show, and the best we can get is a 2.31 million woolong bounty?!' Even so, as Punch says the amount, the number flashes at the bottom of the screen. Despite the disappointment they both felt at such a weak return opening, they remained professional.

"Woow!" Judy exclaims. "That many?" Though secretly she wished she could give the producers a piece of her mind about not finding any better bounties, she knew if she did it on-air, it could only lead to the cancellation of the show. Or worse, she could be replaced! That thought was enough to make her break character for a second, putting her hands on her face in an 'oh woe is me, whatever shall I do' look, as she turns away from the camera.

Punch, however, nods as he remains completely in-character. "Yep!" he states, simply, before glancing over at Judy. He just watches her for a few seconds, trying to give her subtle hints that it's her line, now.

Finally catching on that they were still, in-fact, on air, Judy quickly turns back to the camera, and claps her hands again. She pretends as though nothing at all had just happened, and gives a bubbly blonde smile "Are there any clues to his whereabouts?" she asks, and glances back over at Punch.

"We only know one thing; that he was last seen somewhere around the Earth's orbit! Other than that, we're as clueless as anyone else out there." Punch responds, with a shrug of the shoulders. This statement undoubtedly caused interest to drop to an even further low. The hosts could practically feel two thirds of their remaining audience either turn off their television, or change channel. Again, the two of them shared the same thought: 'A cheap bounty on that rock?! What kind of return show is this?!'

The same 'woe is me' look comes over Judy's face, as she again raises her hands, and turns away from the camera. 'What is wrong with these people?!' she thinks. 'Two million woolong bounties?! Earth?! We're gonna be canceled again for sure!' The thought of being out of a job again was near-enough to make her snap. For sure, she would need to yell at the producers after the segment concluded However, because of Punch's signals again, she spins towards the camera with the same, bubbly, 'nothing just happened' smile. "Is he dangerous?".

"The only thing dangerous about him are his bad mushrooms. Other than that. he's relatively harmless, and is good at running away." Punch responds, turning his attention back to the camera, and away from Judy's apparent mood swings.

Judy puts the back of her right hand up to her mouth, and laughs a little. "Well, that's alright then! I'm sure y'all out wont have a problem!"

The screen again changes, as Punch walks across a few old-west styled buildings, apparently tied up, and being led by gunpoint by a person dressed up as a sheriff. "Don't forget, as per our standard, you must bring the fugitive in alive, and undamaged."

The screen again changes, to a partly cloudy sunset. In the background, are flying birds, possibly crows or vultures. A cactus is standing a few feet away from a gallows, where a figure is by the neck. Judy nods, and stands with her hips out to one side. Her elbows are pointing downwards just above her waist, and her forearms are forwards, with her hands pointing out to the sides and at the palm-up position.. "That's right! If you kill him, you can kiss the reward goodbye!"

As the screen changes back to the wooden wall, barrel, and wagon wheel, she looks to Punch, then back to the camera. "Well, that's all the time we have for you here on Big Shot! Until next time!" She waves a little, before heading off-screen. Something she hadn't done before.

"See y'all on the next show! Good luck, cowpoke!" Punch finishes, and as the American Money theme draws to a close and the title appears, the sound of Judy shouting at someone off-screen can be heard.

"This is our big comeback show, and you people cant get anything better than a cheap, second-rate bounty on some rock?!" she snaps, obviously extremely frustrated. The sound of papers flying can be heard, as a few drift in front of the logo. Punch just sort of watches past the camera at the unfolding situation, not really sure of what to do. "I hope you're happy, you jerk! Because of you, our return show has been ruined!"

As the screen and audio fades away, Judy's protests do as well. The last words before it changes to a commercial are: "I'm gonna talk to my husband about this! I have a right mind to sue all y'all.." And, as a commercial begins, the rest of her argument is cut off.

* * *

Spike sighs as he randomly hits a key with his foot, deactivating the TV feed. "2.31 mil? That's hardly anything..." He shakes his head as he leans back on the couch. His wounds had almost completely healed by this time, though it didn't really a. "And a mushroom salesman? Is that the worst there is?"

Ed laughs a bit, in her usual way, as the memories of her own adventure on Io return. "Ed remembers! Ed got mushrooms in exchange for Ed freeing the hit and run guy!"

Paying little attention to her, Spike just lets out a deep sigh. "I guess we should go after him. 2.13 mil is still 2.13 mil, I guess..." He mutters. He didn't particularly care to go after such a small fry, but he figured that 2.13 million woolongs was 2.13 million he had more than right now. He stands, and stretches a bit, causing for a few cracks and pops to be felt.

Ed laughs as she jumps up and down. "Yaaaay! It's cowgirl Ed time! Ed is gonna get ready!" She exclaims with much excitement, as she turns and makes a mad dash for her bedroom, which was really just a hole in a pile of rubble with a drape over it.

Spike stands and turns to the door. A sudden memory struck him, of the story Ed told him when he had first awoken. "You fixed my ship, right?" Spike asks, glancing over his shoulder towards Ed's room.

"Ed didn't do it on Ed's own. Ein helped Ed!" she shouts from her room. "A lot of the parts rained from the sky, and Ed and Ein downloaded Spike-person's ship stuff and rebuilt it! Ed doesn't think it's as good as Spike-person's friend's version, but Ed did Ed's best!

Spike lets out a single laugh, as he exits the building. Outside, sat the Swordfish II, or at least, something that looked like it. Truth be told, it looked like a load of patchwork, using scrap metal from the surrounding area. Despite being almost the same, it looked somewhat bulky. It was unknown if it could even fly in this state. The wings were far-outstretched, the patching making it impossible to achieve the folding it once could. At the very least, the machine guns and plasma cannon appeared to be in working order, so shooting down bounty heads would be least likely to be a problem.

"She could've at least painted it over.." Spike mutters as he walks over to the ship, inspecting it. It was a good rebuild, but still, it looked like patchwork that could fall apart at any time. Despite this, Spike just gives a short shrug, and opens the pod. Before he enters, though, his attention is caught by Ed's voice. He glances over his shoulder at her.

"Ed is ready!" she calls as she runs up behind him. She is dressed in a classic, brown cowboy hat, something she'd saved for just this purpose, with her internet glasses around the base. Tomato is strapped to her back, with her 'stinky gas' guns attached to her waist, cowboy style. Those guns are attached to a medium-sized can strapped below Tomato. Ein is with her, sitting atop the hat, relaxing the best he can in the small groove. He lets out a bark, which is followed by Ed saying: "Cowgirl Ed is ready to go!"

Spike smiles a little to himself, as he shakes his head. He climbs into the MONO pod, feeling quite a bit more room in the seat than before. He pays it no mind, yet, instead focusing on getting out to find the bounty. "Come on, Ed."

Ed nods quickly, and climbs in, taking her seat behind Spike. Ein jumps from the hat, resting over Ed's shoulder. "Ed made a spot for Ed and Ein behind Spike-person. The MONO thingy wasn't working so Ed didn't think Spike-person would mind if Ed changed it! Does Spike-person mind?"

Spike gives a slight nod, as he closes the pod. "Yeah, it's fine as long as it can fly with the both of us.." he mutters, though his thoughts are different. 'I could kill her for doing it, but if it works..' he thinks.

Ed nods quickly. "It can, it can! Ed made sure!"

Spike says nothing in return, and activates the ship. The electronics seemed properly restored at least, he thought. Hoping the rest would work, he revs up the engine. It shakes a little, but manages to lift up off the ground. Obviously, Ed had managed to do a good job of restoring it "Where do we go first..." he mutters.

Ed jumps a little, almost hitting her head on the pod's ceiling. "When Ed was chasing the hit and run guy, Ed placed a tracker on his ship just in case!" She hands him a device with a small screen. It had been modified from an old, handheld videogame, and operated as a sort of system-wide GPS, using the various satellite dishes and orbital units to work with the signal, sending it back to the device. It had an incredible range, obviously. "Just follow the blinking yellow dot!" she says, pointing to said dot.

Spike takes the device from her, putting it on the screen where the regular radar unit sits. "Alright, here we go!" he says, as he speeds off in the direction of where the light indicated. It was in the direction of New York, though only Ed really know this. Though the modified ship was slightly slower, due to the amount of metal on it, it flew much smoother than it had before. Turns, lifts, and drops were all practically effortless. Noticing this immediately, he glances over at Ed. "Alright, Ed. What did you do. The ship never flies this smoothly." he inquires, before looking back to the barren landscape which is Earth in front of him.

"Um.. When Ed was looking on the internet for how to fix Spike-person's ship, Ed found a way to make the nuclear aero-spike engine thingy put out more power to the thrusters! Ed thought it would make the ship smoother!" She scratches the side of her head. "Is Spike-person mad at Ed?" she asks as she leans over his shoulder.

Spike, after a second or two of thinking, shakes his head once. "No, I'm not. Thanks." he says, feeling surprisingly grateful towards her for these modifications. At any other time, he would have been rather angry at her for changing things without his permission. Obviously, something inside was different, but he had yet to find out what that is.

"Eeee! Spike-person isn't mad at Ed!" she squeals, as she leans back, before putting her head on his shoulder again. "Does that mean Ed did good?"

Spike gives her a brief glance, before turning his attention back to the landscape. "Yeah, Ed. You did good."


	5. The New York Mushroom Tango!

Thanks for your continued support, fellow Bebop otakus! I intend to make this story as long as I can, as great as I can do it, so keep on reading!

Ah, copyright again. The writer's worst enemy of restatement. Alright, now this time it'll apply to all chapters from hereon in. Everyone and thing that's copyrighted is copyright their original owner, while all things that aren't copyright the original owner (e.g. the story itself and any original characters) are mine and mine alone.

Constructive criticism and pie please! Ah, note that I don't remember exactly how Spike knows when the plasma cannon is charged so.. again, bear with me. And, excuse me if my intel on New York is a bit off.

--Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards--

Chapter 5: The New York Mushroom Tango!

Saturday: 5:41 P.M.; New York: Manhattan

Spike looks around the ruins of Manhattan's surface, as they near the indicated location of Domino's ship. A majority of the city is leveled, though that is mostly due to a lack of people to perform the necessary upkeep of the buildings. Surprisingly, major landmarks such as The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System building, amongst other landmarks, still stand.

The structural integrity and outer shell of these buildings had been damaged to a degree. However, due to the 2014 Structural Integrity Ordinance, most of the major landmarks had been carefully fitted with experimental components, in order to ensure that they would stand tall for centuries to come. The falling pieces of the moon had taken chunks from a few of the buildings, and natural wear and tear had ensured the buildings show only a fraction of the glory they previously had, but they remained standing. One could argue that the buildings standing, despite being beaten down, could be representative of the human spirit's ability to persevere, however it was, and still is, rather rare to find someone to look at the buildings and think anything other than decaying figures of the past.

Spike was little different. In fact, he found the remaining buildings to be little more than a nuisance. So far as he was concerned, the buildings served as potential hiding locations for the bounty head, and as such, a certain spite for them could be detected. Even so, he flies around the city, and the buildings, with precision, intent on finding the bounty head. "Where is he.. He should be right below us.."

Ed, having more of a chance to look below them, practically leaps out of her seat as she points. "There, there! Mushroom Man is over there!" she shouts, pointing to a spaceship-shaped object on the ground.

The indicated ship is sitting on the ground, atop one of the many leveled buildings. It's a sort of silverfish color, though this comes from a lack of paint, and not necessarily a silver paint job. It appears rather old in age, obviously having seen a lot in its many years of illegal activities. Scrapes and battle 'scars' of all forms cover the ship, particularly the hull, though not to such a degree as to indicate the integrity had been breached at any level. The rather large hangar doors remain open, though from the angle and elevation of the Swordfish II, it couldn't be told if any activity were occurring. At any rate, however, it was sitting there, almost in plain sight, though a few feet off the mark.

Finally noticing the ship, due to Ed's indication, he slowly moves the Swordfish II in that direction.

Despite his approach, all remained quiet. He saw no sign of Domino making his escape, on foot or otherwise. It seemed as though it would be a rather simple capture and, despite his past experiences, he had somehow managed to drift into that frame of mind. He had a minor nagging feeling, though, causing him to think the following thought: "This is almost too easy…"

* * *

Inside Domino's ship...

Domino laughs a bit, as he picks the mushrooms from their places of growing. As he usually does, he separates the mushrooms into two blue, unmarked, duffel bags, one full of good mushrooms, the other full of bad. "I'll never be caught, no matter how much the bounty is!" he exclaims, rather confidently. He picks another mushroom. "Hm… That's a bad one.." he mutters, as he drops it into the one containing the bad mushrooms. "That should be enough for now… I still cant believe they don't know I'm growing these in here!" he says, as he picks up the bags. "And this rock landing was the best thing I could've planned." he says as he turns, then makes a rather surprised noise as he jumps back, being practically face-to-face with Ed.

Ed laughs. "Did Ed surprise you?" she asks, as she steps towards him."

"I-It's you again!" Domino exclaims. It was surprising enough to him that he would be discovered here, however the fact that the one finding him was the girl who had nearly caused him to go to jail, made that all the more unbelievable. Truth be told he, for a second, thought he might've come under the influence of one of his mushrooms. "How did you get in this time??"

"Haha, you left the door open again!" Ed exclaims, rather hyperactively. She puts her hands behind her back.

"I wha? Damn! I have to stop doing that!" he shouts, to nobody in particular. He wasn't entirely sure why he voiced his thoughts, especially in such a loud voice. Nobody was there to listen, and certainly this kid was no exception. He had no time to think about this, though, due to Ed's next action.

"Alright Mr. Mushroom, this is a bust!" she says, almost the same thing she'd said at their first encounter. She draws her stinky gas guns. "Prepare to pay, Bounty-head!

Domino backs up a few steps, and turns around in preparation for his escape. Instead of finding a hallway of mushrooms, though, he comes face-to-face with the muzzle of Spike's Israeli Jericho 941. He goes cross-eyed as he stares at the gun, which is about a foot away from the direct center of his temples. He begins to sweat a little, as he tries to think of a way out of this situation.

"End of the line, mushroom man." Spike says in his calm voice. He was thoroughly convinced he has Domino right where he wanted him, seeing no possibility of him getting out of the situation.

Domino sweats a little more, but a sudden, crazy idea fills his mind. In a last-ditch effort of escape, he gives the bag with a good mushrooms an upwards swing. Spike fires, but it's too late. The bullet tears through the bag, and stops the mushrooms, which bits of begin flying out of the holes. As Spike puts his gun away and grabs the bag in one smooth motion, though a little haltered by his coughing from breathing in mushroom bits, Domino takes this opportunity to make a break for it down a corridor to his immediate left. He takes the bad mushrooms with him.

Spike throws the bag onto the ground, then begins to run after Domino. "Damn it, come back here!" he snaps.

Ed runs after Spike, her arms flailing in the air. She's still holding the gas guns, despite the surprise of the volume of a firing gun shocking her a little. "Ed will help!" she exclaims. "Get back here, you stinky cowpoke!" she shouts, to Domino, same as before. However, if this was her attempt to help, one couldn't tell.

* * *

Aboard Domino's ship: Hangar

Despite Spike and Ed's speed on foot, Domino is still a ways ahead of them, due to his head start. He enters the hangar, which up until now had been used for emergency escape. The smaller escape vehicles, however, had been replaced with a second-hand, slightly modified asteroid racer. It somewhat resembled Spike's Swordfish II, but due to it being a second-hand vehicle, a few of the parameters are lower, meaning it wouldn't run at the same level Spike's would. He pops open the hatch, as the ship lacked a MONO pod, and starts up the ship. He takes off straight through the hangar door, and almost straight upwards.

Spike, who arrives at the hangar the second Domino takes off of the hangar, fires twice. One of the bullets hits, but causes little damage. The damage it does cause is really only cosmetic: slight damage to the patchwork on the undercarriage. The other bullet completely misses, lodging itself in the concrete of a ruined building across the way. Spike runs over to the hangar doors, and looks down. "Damnit!" he exclaims. "He's getting away!"

Ed runs up to Spike's side, and puts away the gas guns. "Don't worry, Spike-person! Ed has it covered!" she states, as she activates a wrist gadget, which resembles an oversized watch. "Help'll be here in a second!"

* * *

Aboard the Swordfish II

Within the Swordfish II, Ein rests. It had been a rather long, insane day for him. First Spike awakens, and now he's gone with Ed and Spike on a hunt. He had a feeling, something in his canine senses, telling him that something would happen soon. He took this opportunity to get all of the rest he could. His rest, however, is interrupted by the instrument panel beeping. He lets out a low whine at the disturbance of his resting, but sits up. He uses his paw to press a button on the console, and barks once as Ed's face fills the screen.

"Ein!" Ed states, with a bit of urgency. "Spike-person and Ed need help! The bounty-head is getting away! Get the fishy ship over here!"

"What??" Spike is heard, protesting in the background. "You're gonna try to have that mutt fly MY ship??" he exclaims. He was near-ready to kill Ed for doing this. He knew it would likely be the only way they had a chance of catching up with Domino at this point, but that didn't change the fact that Ein would be at the controls of his ship. Did Ein even know how to fly it? He didn't know. And that made him all the angrier.

Ed speaks loudly, just enough to be heard over Spike's yelling. "Hurry, Ein! The bounty-head is getting away!" she says, before de-activating the wrist device.

Ein sits, as he looks about the controls. Ed's request was a strange one, and Spike's anger made it all the more apparent to him that this was a bad idea. Despite this, he knew he was needed, and such gave the controls a once-over look, before standing on his back legs. He puts his forepaws on the ship's controls, before piloting towards the hangar of the bounty head's ship.

* * *

A few minutes later…

Ein barks a bit, as he brings the Swordfish II into an easy landing, outside of the hangar. Despite the minor difficulty he had in piloting, he managed to get it over without a scratch on it. He pushes into a sitting position, and lets out another bark, as he waits.

Spike, greatly relieved to see the ship In one piece despite it being in the hands of a dog, runs over to and opens the pod. He gives Ed a strong glare over his shoulder. "Never again." he states, sternly. "Ever." He climbs inside. His actions result in Ein giving out a bit of a whine.

Ed, too, climbs inside of the ship. She takes her spot behind Spike, and looks out of the ship. "Ok.. Ed wont have Ein do it again.." she says, in a rather disappointed voice.

Without another word, Spike revs up the Swordfish II's engine, and speeds off in the direction he'd last seen Domino head off in.

* * *

The chase, several minutes later...

Domino laughs to himself as he nears the New Cliffard Milburn Holland Tunnel, the only passage out of Manhattan to survive the gate incident. Unlike the other landmarks of New York, the Holland Tunnel had been rebuilt and completed in 2020 with the latest construction materials and methods, just a year before the Gate Incident. The reason for this: the Old Holland Tunnel had finally succumbed to natural wear and tear over the last hundred years. The failing point had been its ventilation system.

Despite it being gradually updated as time moved on, between 2005 and 2010 the advances in the vehicle industry had been enough that a new, though rather experimental, fuel rod had been developed. The emissions of the fuel rod were thought to be the same as gasoline, however they proved rather corrosive to the materials making up the ventilation system. After only a year, the tunnel had experienced drastic failure in one of the main vents. Water had flooded the tunnel. The rush of water caused cars to collide with each other. Unfortunately, two of these vehicles were tankers carrying gasoline and oil. The collisions had resulted in explosions, which weakened the structural integrity of the tunnel. The pressure overcame the weaknesses, causing the tunnel to basically collapse upon itself. The death toll was estimated to be in the hundreds.

In response to this, the Old Holland Tunnel had been sealed off, and the New Holland Tunnel had been designed. Construction began in 2012, only a few miles away from the Old Holland Tunnel. Using new construction methods, the tunnel was built under the river using materials highly resistant to fuel rod corrosion. It had been build at about equal length, but more than double the width, to accommodate over five lanes of traffic both to and from. It was well-lit, and only needed a single row of pillars down the length of the tunnel to support the structure.

The tunnel had survived the impact of the Gate Incident, though barely. The main structure had been compromised, but due to the way in which it had been built, it remained standing. Debris from the walls and ceiling littered the tunnel, making it impassable should anyone dare try on car. Very minor leaks could be found here and there, but it wasn't enough to cause any catastrophic failure, and thus, Domino found this the perfect place to hide.

"Heheheh." he laughs, in a strange way. "They'll never catch me now! I'll just hide in here until the heat dies down.." he says, sounding rather confident in his ability to hide.

The Swordfish II moves in close, as Ed uses Tomato to hack open a communications channel to Domino's ship. "Hey Mushroom Man." Spike says, as a grin comes across his face. "I hope you're fast. The chase is on." he says. It wasn't exactly in his nature to toy with his bounty, but a part of him told him that he was just some small-time bounty head. He knew he could outmaneuver and catch him. Even if he got away, it wasn't too big of a problem. He was only worth just over two million woolongs. Besides, it had been a while. He wanted to have fun with this one.

"Ye-e-eah!" Ed shouts, from over his shoulder. "We're gonna get you!" she says. Unlike Spike, Ed was pretty much in it for the fun. She had no problem with her surroundings because she thought, so long as she was with Spike, everything with the bounty hunting would turn out alright. After all, Spike appeared to be an expert in that field.

Domino's only response is to turn his ship away from the New Holland Tunnel, and fly off towards the North. He goes as fast as he possibly can, trying to think of a way to elude them. Not being from Earth, or some form of expert on the planet, he wasn't entirely sure about the geography or layout of the city, but he figured he could come up with something.

As the chase begins, Ed types a little on her laptop. The song Mushroom Samba, from a CD called 'Music to Hunt To' appears. To Ed, it seemed rather fitting for the chase, as she had a strange feeling she'd heard it in her chase of Domino before.

"What the hell??" Spike says, as he glances over his shoulder, taking his mind off of Domino for a second. The music, too him, carried a bit of annoyance. He preferred to chase after his bounties in silence, so he could have the maximum of concentration.

Ed just smiled a bit, and nods quickly. "Ed put on chase music! Ed thinks it sets the mood!" she exclaims as she looks from the computer, to Spike, to the computer again.

Spike shakes his head, as he looks back. He increases the speed of the Swordfish II, doing his best to keep Domino in his sights. He decided he would prove easier to deal with the music for now, rather than to fight with Ed over it. The more attention he gave to arguing, the less he could use to focus on catching Domino. "If you say so.." he mutters.

* * *

The chase officially begins.

As Domino flies over the ruins of Manhattan, and over the remnants of Central Park, the Guggenheim Museum comes into view. Surprisingly, the java cup-shaped structure had remained, though the glass covering the top had shattered. The building attached to it had all but fallen upon itself, leaving nothing but the 'cup' left. Domino's ship flies through the top, barely dodging a barrage of bullets from the Swordfish II. Without a second to waste, crashes through the entryway, leaving behind fallen and tattered paintings, amongst other artworks. Spike follows close behind, though the combined collision with the walls causes the structure to, like the others, collapse upon themselves.

They move their pursuit in an arc, towards the American Museum of Natural History. They tear through the entryway, leaving nothing but a gaping hole behind. Domino flies through a tattered sign, advertising a magnificent addition to the Hall of Minerals and Gems. Domino, momentarily blinded, crashes sideways through a wall to a portion called 'The Art of Diorama: Recreating Nature" where long-extinct wildlife remain forever preserved inside these barely-touched walls. Despite the history museum being near-perfectly preserved. Little of this mattered anymore, as since the movement into space, most interest in the origin of the human species and life on Earth had disappeared. Neither of these thoughts occurred to the ones in the ship, however. The banner finally snags on something, as Domino crashes through another, into the Rose Center and Planetarium, where a chunk of moon had crashed through the ceiling of the area, devastating the once-magnificent planetarium. He pulls upwards, to avoid the chunk, heading straight out of the ceiling. A few pieces of his ship fall free, but he hardly notices. Spike, still, remains hot on his tail.

Domino, still able to stay ahead of Spike, flies through the entrance of Carnegie Hall, damaged because of debris fall. He crashes through, to the main hall. Little remains of the Hall now. All memorabilia that hadn't been damage or destroyed, had been looted by people looking for a quick buck. On-stage, discarded instruments and sheet papers lay everywhere, covered in dirt and grime from years of going without care, and the dirt kicked up by the meteor. Domino slows down, and turns his ship around, not wanting to chance losing anything by crashing through the back wall.

Spike flies in, thinking Domino to be trapped. Before Spike can get a shot out, however, Domino flies up and crashes through the ceiling of the building, causing some more pieces from his ship to give way. However, Spike had just fired a missile the second Domino elevated. It flies back, past the curtains, and smashes into the wall, causing a rather loud explosion which resonates through the entire hall. The walls begin to shake a little and, just as Spike exits through the hole Domino created, Carnegie hall collapses backwards.

Domino heads south again, towards the Chrysler Building. He flies around the outside, purposefully scraping the side of it in an attempt to cause some form of collapse or debris to impede Spike's pursuit. This is to no avail, however, as only a few pieces of the building give way, and Spike easily evades. The chase continues due west-southwest.

Domino clenches his teeth, as he smashes into wall of the United Nations building, into the General Assembly room. The once-glamorous room that held many a world conference, had since been changed into a place for squatters. Place cards still designate where the leaders or representatives of a nation sit, though a few of them had been taken for souvenir purposes. The translator area still sits in one place, though most of it is covered in dust and dirt. At the front, a rather large screen hangs, covering the seal. Obviously, something had been projected on it before the Gate Incident, though now, nobody could guess as to what. Spike quickly appears behind Domino again, as he crashes through the main entrance, through which Spike follows.

Having been able to put more distance between them, Domino flies up and over the Empire State Building, in an attempt to elude Spike further. Spike flies around it, and the two scrape each other. The dogfight continues through Wall Street, and down south, back towards the New Holland Tunnel.

* * *

The New Holland Tunnel

"Too good.." Domino mutters, as he turns back to his original plan. "But he cant catch me! Not yet! Nobody can catch me!" he states, as he flies towards the New Holland Tunnel. It can be clearly told that, by his actions, he was slowly losing his rationality. Having pushed his ship so far in the chase, panels begin to fall off from it, the ship slowly becoming nothing more than scrap metal. It wasn't clear, however, if he knew the state of his ship, or if he even cared. He seemed focused on one thing and one thing only: escape at any cost. It didn't matter, he figured, if he lost his ship. This collection of mushrooms could easily buy him a new one.

Spike turns back onto the same path Domino is following, the old I-38, towards the Tunnel. His ship, too, is losing its abilities. Though it was an admirable repair job, nothing could change the fact that it was scrap metal, and Ed was an amateur at ship repair. He didn't seem too concerned with this, either, as he focused on catching his bounty. "Like hell if you'll get away!" he yells, as he flips a small switch near the handle grips back, before pressing it inwards. On the undercarriage of the ship, the plasma cannon lowers a little, before beginning to charge.

Domino, still in his somewhat crazed state of mind, increases his speed. He pushes the asteroid racer to its limits, shooting into the tunnel. His plan, however, carried one fatal flaw. The support columns for the tunnel were still standing. That, and the pileup of debris proved to be rather damaging to his ship. With each pillar that falls, the damage increases greatly.

Spike, who's following close behind, experiences the same problem. Though Domino had taken out the columns, the falling debris as a result of that action had caused his ship to begin falling apart as well. However, one thing still proved to be a good sign. The plasma cannon was almost fully charged, a change from the old charging time.

Despite this, major wing damage begins to take its toll on both ships. Pieces were flying off, mostly from the left wing, as they continue this chase with reckless abandon. This causes a panic in Ed, as she begins to shake Spike's right shoulder. "Spike-person! Ed doesn't think we'll make it!" she exclaims. Ein begins whimpering, knowing Ed to be right.

"Just a little more, and we'll have him! It's too late to turn back now!" Spike snaps in return. He had gone through too much to give up now. He wouldn't let a little wing damage and complaining deter him from catching his target. His attention is drawn to a blinking light on the control panel, indicating the plasma cannon is at full charge. He grins, and presses a button on the handlebars. On the undercarriage of the ship, the cannon sparks a little as it adjusts its firing angle. Possibly a second later, a bright, blue plasma beam fires, cutting away a large chunk of the exposed underbelly of Domino's ship. Due to the movement and firing angle, the damage spreads to the right wing's control system, before the beam disappears.

"It's a hit!" Ed exclaims. Despite the clear danger, she still felt the excitement for Spike hitting his target, as well as a bit of an adrenaline rush. 'Is this what being a cowgirl feels like?' she thinks, drifting off into her own little world for a second. 'If it is, Ed likes it a lot!'

* * *

Meanwhile, inside Domino's ship..

"Hell!" Domino exclaims, as he struggles to maintain control of his failing ship. His best efforts are in vain, however, as a the emergency indicator lights blink in unison, accompanied by warning sounds of all tones. His right wing explodes into flame, mostly from the plasma attack, though accelerated by the damage brought on from the pursuit. A chain reaction begins, as his ship drops onto the ground, tearing away more from the bottom. Both the wings and the cockpit are engulfed in flames, causing Domino to try his best to escape to avoid being burnt alive. This proves as more of a mistake, as his slip slides into the wall of the tunnel, decimating his right wing. The ship slides a bit, by propulsion of the engine alone, before the fuel rod container is finally breached. As the engine stops, Domino hardly has the time to suffer, because fuel rod explodes in a rather magnificent way, causing chunks of the ship to fly in every which direction.

* * *

On the Swordfish II

As the burning wreckage what was Domino's wing flies at them, Spike heightens the altitude a little. The cost of this: the plasma cannon and a dangerously large chunk of the undercarriage are taken away from the impact. The turbulence from this caused both Ed and Ein to whimper, though Ed still felt the rush of adrenaline.

"Damnit! This isn't going well!"" Spike exclaims, as he too struggles to maintain control of his failing spacecraft. His statement is proven to be all the more true, as Domino's ship explodes. This causes Spike to rapidly bring the Swordfish II to a dead stop, as to avoid colliding with the remnants. He lowers the ship to the ground, and climbs out. "He's dead!" he shouts, to nobody in particular.

"Ed doesn't think that's the worst of our problems!" Ed exclaims as she presses a button on the console, causing her scooter to fall from the ship. She climbs out with her laptop, followed by Ein. Before Spike can inquire, however, as to what she means, there is a rather loud rumbling as water slowly begins to leak into the tunnel. Without an explanation, she unfolds the scooter, and pushes it over to Spike. "Spike-person has to drive!"

'No time for questions.' Spike things as he steps onto it, and grips the handlebars. Unfamiliar with operating such a vehicle, he glances over to Ed. "How do you drive this thing??"

Ein jumps on to Ed's back, as Ed climbs onto the scooter, hugging Spike's waist. "Ed's scooter is like a motorcycle! Twist the handlebars and go!" she says, rather eager to get out of this situation. Spike in return leans forward, and does as instructed.

As they take off, the ceiling of the tunnel around the explosion collapses. The explosion had been large enough and violent enough to further weaken the structure, and with no columns to support it, nothing was there to hold back the torrent of gushing water. Anyone who knew the fate of the Old Holland Tunnel, might think this of a history repeating itself in a way. However, nobody was around to know, and so, the thought, like a few others about Earth, went unthought-of. The water rips through the tunnel, wiping away both Domino's ship and the Swordfish II. Pieces are shot at them like rockets.

"Ed, this thing isn't fast enough! Cant it go any faster?" Spike asks, with a certain annoyance in his voice, as he glances at Ed. Truth be told, Spike didn't exactly find dying in a tunnel a nice way to go. Surprisingly, however, he felt that he didn't want to go at all. He looks back forward, not quite expecting an answer.

"Ed is sorry! Ed's scooter was made only for Ed!" she whines, as she looks back, before quickly looking forward again.

Spike looks forward, as he dodges the debris from the damaged supports, and various spaceship parts. As they continue speeding away, the wall and ceiling in front of them begin to fall apart. As dust and water begin to leak water, threatening to cave in at any moment, Ed begins to clearly panic again.

"Eeee! Ed doesn't think we'll make it! Ed doesn't wanna die, Ed doesn't wanna die! Ed is too young to die!" she cries, clinging onto Spike even tighter. She closes her eyes, not wanting to see any more.

"Hold out a bit more, you piece of junk!" Spike snaps, as he stomps on the scooter. Naturally, it didn't occur to him that stomping on it would in fact not make it operate at any greater capacity than it would normally. Despite his ability to perform a technical tap with varying results, it was outside his power to make devices operate outside their normal capacity with this method. As such, it speeds along at its average speed.

As the exit finally comes into sight, the walls around them continue to break apart, leaking water into the almost-over coming torrent. Just as it seems they wouldn't make it, Spike hit's a makeshift ramp, causing them to fly out of the tunnel. Immediately behind them, there is a strange sound as the remainder of the tunnel collapses, and the last remaining link between Manhattan and New Jersey through water is destroyed.

The scooter flies for a little bit, before hitting the ground. As it does, there is a rather loud snap, as it quickly comes to a stop. Their landing had snapped the scooter in two at the base, instantly severing the controls and power. Spike quickly runs forward, stumbling a bit, before stopping. Ed is right behind him

Momentarily forgetting about the near-death experience, Ed begins to hit Spike. "Ed's scooter broke! Why did Spike-person break it??" she whines, obviously quite angry and distressed by the result of Spike's actions, no matter how life-saving they had been.

Spike, angered, kicks the remnants of the scooter. "It was to save our lives! Besides, my damn ship broke, so I think we're even!" He looks around, thinking alittle. "Anyway, how the hell are we supposed to get off this damn rock?"

Completely forgetting her anger towards Spike over her scooter, she scratches the back of her head, thinking. "Hmm.." she mutters, thoughtfully. "Oh! Ed knows! Ed and Spike-person can steal Mr. Mushroom's ship!"

Spike walks by her, towards the direction in which the ship was last seen. "It wont be the first time I've liberated' something." he mutters, as he glances at ed. "Ed, could you hack into the ship's registry, and change the info? We don't need cop trouble when we go through the hyperspace gates.

Ed runs up next to Spike, keeping at his side. "Ed can do that easily! Spike-person should give Ed harder things to do sometimes!" In response to Ein's new barking, Ed nods once. "Ein can help pick the bad mushrooms!"

Spike shrugs a bit, as he continues on. "Fine, but we're launching the bad ones into space. The police'll probably search ships like this until they're convinced he's dead." he mutters.

"Nooo probleeem!" Ed says, as she spreads her arms wide. She runs in circles around Spike, as they continues towards the ship. Ein jumps away from her, and runs around Spike as well, determined to not let Ed have all the fun.

* * *

That evening, on the mushroom ship...

Ed sits on the control panel on the bridge, typing on Tomato. The laptop is connected to the control panel via a modified serial port, The serial port in the control panel had been mostly used for software maintenance and upgrades. To Ed, it was her lucky day, as a direct connection to her laptop made hacking computer systems all the more easier, doubly so when it came to changing vital information about the ship like registry information. She would still have to hack into the Martian Government's database registry to change the information inside there, however, she found that to be a somewhat simple task. She kicks her feet a little, as she works. "Mr. Mushroom, Mr. Mushroom.. Ship so old its software can barely work! Ed will make it better!"

Meanwhile, inside the vast inner workings of the ship, Ein barks at the next mushroom on the wall, indicating it to be a bad one. He, too, found his task easy. The fact that he had consumed one of these mushrooms before made it easier on his senses to detect the differences. Despite this, he still found the task rather menial, but he found he enjoyed the laid-back time with Spike.

Spike, in response to the barking, tosses the mushroom into a large pile. He stretches a bit, causing for a pop or two here and there. "That's about.. ten thousand bad mushrooms… and about… five hundred good ones." he mutters. He shakes his head, as he picks the last one; a bad one, as indicated by Ein. "If we kept these, we could make a fortune. I'd have enough to pay Doohan to make a Swordfish III, and then some.." Seriously considering this, he looks up, as he lights up a cigarette which he found in the torn-up duffle bag, as well as a lighter. He draws a long breath, and blows out the smoke. "Hmm…" he mutters.

As he evening enters nighttime, Spike heads up towards the bridge, to check on Ed's progress. He takes another drag on the cigarette, still contemplating the mushroom dilemma. He figured he might as well talk it over with Ed, because as much as he'd like the money, something inside him told him it wasn't work getting her killed over. At the very least, he would be checking on her progress in forcibly turning over control of Domino's ship. Ein runs after him, letting out a single bark.


	6. Big Shot Bounty: Take Two!

I really appreciate all those who have read! I'm glad people keep coming back for other chapters. I would highly appreciate more reviews, though. I'm eager to find out what the new readers think, and old readers think of my new revisions.

--Cowboy Bebop: Bounty Hunters in Space; the Story of Afterwards--

Chapter 6: Big Shot Bounty: Take Two!

Next Tuesday; In space: On the long flight to Callisto

Spike mutters something incoherent to all but himself, as he strolls down the corridor to the main living quarters, the equivalent of a home's living room. Despite Domino's ship (now named the Bebop II, by Ed's suggestion) being much smaller than the Bebop, it turned out to have enough room for living quarters, and storage. Much more room had been created after the disposal of all the equipment for growing mushrooms. Luckily for them, the ship had in it a full stock of fuel rods, some money leftover from Domino's mushrooms, and enough food stocked in the large freezer to supply the population of Jupiter a week's worth of food. As he enters the room, he hears Ed's familiar laughter, as American Money begins to play, indicating the beginning of Big Shot.

* * *

--Initiate Big Shot segment--

Punch and Judy back onto the screen from the sides, to the front of the logo, standing back to back. They are dressed in their usual attire: Punch in an off-white cowboy hat with black pants, a white shirt with the collar up, and a purple vest; Judy in a white cowboy hat, red earrings, a red handkerchief tied around her neck, an open bolero jacket with nothing underneath, and a skirt held up by a belt with a heart-shaped buckle.

"Hey amigos! All you three hundred thousand bounty hunters in this star system. How're y'all doin!" Punch says, his standard opening line. The faked western and Mexican combined accent remains. The two of them move away from each other simultaneously.

Judy laughs, as she turns to the screen. Her large, blonde hair, somewhat reminiscent of Dolly Parton's, bobs a bit during that action. "This here is Big Shot, where we give y'all hot tips on all the hot new bounties!" she exclaims, rather hyperactively. Her accent, unlike Punch's, appears to be an authentic western. She blows a kiss to the screen, and winks, before she claps her hands together as she steps back. "It's time to round us up some good bounties today!" She pretends her finger is a pistol, as she had done many times before, and fires at the camera. "Pa-choo!"

"That's right, pardners! An today, we have a special bounty courtesy of Cybertronics Incorporated!" he says, tipping his hat back with his thumb, whilst simultaneously giving the camera a cheesy grin.

The screen changes, showing modern-day text superimposed over either a painted or digitally created sheet of old wood. Anyone paying attention to the details of this show, might find it rather strange or oxymoronic, that such a post-modern font face be digitally grafted over such an ancient style of signage, but that inconsistency didn't seem to matter to the producers. Despite that, the text, white in color, reads: 'Today's Menu'

After a brief pause, the screen again changes, showing a man, Caucasian, looking to be about in his early to mid thirties. Unlike the prior bounty, this man stood not in front of a mug shot-type background, indicating this to be a security or work ID photograph. He has a bright smile, obviously seeming to be the friendly type, and his deep green eyes show both a friendliness to them, yet a cold calculative quality. Obviously, it can be inferred from this that he's quite smart. His hair is a deep, rich brown, greatly accenting his green eyes. He has no facial hare or other distinguishing features, save for a pair of thick, black-framed, horn-rimmed glasses, adding to the appearance of intelligence. From what little can be seen of his clothing, he appears to be wearing a stereotypical white lab coat. To the right of his head, superimposed text reads 'BIG SHOT', to the left, a similar text reads 'TODAY'S THE FIRST PERSON' at one word per line. Below his head, is an ID plate, digitally added over his image. It reads: Alexander Smith. Domi. : Callisto. Height: 5 feet 7inches. Weight: 140 pounds. Age: 32.

The picture zooms out a bit, enough for Punch and Judy to have room on either side to be on-screen, without obstructing any view of the bounty. Judy looks to the background, before looking at Punch. She clasps her hands together. "Oooh, he sure is a handsome one! Who is he?" she asks, tilting her head to the side a little.

Punch looks back at Judy, giving her a slightly strange look. True, this hadn't been the first time she had an attraction to one of the bounty heads, however this hadn't changed the fact. Even stranger: she openly stated her attraction to the bounty head on-air, despite her being married. Undoubtedly, this would cause trouble for her later. However, this wasn't an issue to be addressed on-air, so Punch looks back at the camera. "Ehrm, this varmint goes by the name of Alexander Smith! He was a big scientist person at Cybertronics Incorporated's Research and Development labs. They say he was going to defect to the rival company, Futuretech Industries, taking valuable research data with him, but his plot was foiled. He stole top priority technology, and is now on the run!"

Alexander's picture disappears, as the two move to take the center screen. The backdrop is now of the desert, with plateaus scattered here and there. The two of them are standing in front of text that reads 'Big Shot' in bold, red letters.

"Ooooh!" Judy exclaims, quite intrigued. "How much is this bounty worth?" she asks her co-host, looking from Alexander's picture, to Punch, to the camera. Her hands remain clasped together, clearly interested in the answer to the question.

Punch gives a cheesy grin, as he stares right at the camera. "Shucks howdy! I'm glad you asked that question! Because of the sensitivity of the stolen information, the company has put out an enormous bounty of.. Twelve million woolongs!!" As Punch says the amount, the number flashes on the screen. This higher amount, over two and a half times the one of their first bounty, came as a great relief to the duo, and one could tell by the relief in their faces. Judy appeared particularly relieved, as he thoughts she had carried over from their return show faded away.

"Oh, wow!" Judy exclaims excitedly, as she looks to Punch. "Twelve million? Really?" she asks. Truth be told, she was unsure of what she just heard. She had figured that because of her outburst at the end of their last show, that they would intentionally find them a bounty not even worth peanuts. It was to her great relief that a better bounty be dug up. So long as it wasn't suspected to be around Earth, she had a feeling that this show would turn out alright. Though she slightly feared the answer to this question, she looks towards the camera. "Do we knew his whereabouts?"

Punch snaps his fingers across his chest. "You reckon we do! Cybertronics Incorporated managed to retrieve the autopilot data from their ship before it took off. He was heading towards Io! But bounty hunters, beware! This hombre is extremely dangerous! The technology he stole is highly experimental, so he should be handled with extreme caution!" The screen again changes, as Punch walks across a few old-west styled buildings, apparently tied up, and being led by gunpoint by a person dressed up as a sheriff. "Don't forget, as per our standard, you must bring the fugitive in alive, and undamaged. At least, that's what we'd usually say! Special instructions from Cybertronics Inc are that the bounty can be alive OR dead, but the police will add an one million woolongs if returned alive! Cybertronics Inc will ONLY issue the bounty if their stolen technology is returned!"

The screen again changes, to a partly cloudy sunset. In the background, are flying birds, possibly crows or vultures. A cactus is standing a few feet away from a gallows, where a figure is by the neck. Judy nods, and stands with her hips out to one side. Her elbows are pointing downwards just above her waist, and her forearms are forwards, with her hands pointing out to the sides and at the palm-up position.. "That's right! If the technology is destroyed, or not turned over to a Cybernetic representative upon capture, you can kiss that big fat bounty goodbye!"

As the screen changes back to the wooden wall, barrel, and wagon wheel, she looks to Punch, then back to the camera. "Well, that's all the time we have for you here on Big Shot! Until next time!" She waves a little, before blowing a goodbye kiss.

"See y'all on the next show! Good luck, cowpoke!" Punch finishes, and the American Money theme draws to a close and the title appears over the pair, before the screen fades to black. A commercial about the latest Mono racing in the rings of Jupiter comes on.

End Big Shot segment

* * *

Ed, who had managed to pay attention through the entire show, looks up at Spike, who had been watching over her shoulder. She keeps a hold of her legs around the ankles, as she leans back a little. "Is Ed right to think it's a good bounty?" she asks.

Spike gives a slight nod, as he lights a cigarette. He clamps the lighter shut, as he takes a long drag on his cigarette, before finally responding. "We might as well go after them. Io is on the way to Callisto, the bounty should be worth the trouble." he says, rather monotonously.

Ed rolls backwards and sideways, off of the table, before jumping up. She runs around to Spike's side, before stretching a bit. "Yaaay! Ed cant wait! Ed thinks this bounty-head will be a breeze!"

Ignoring her hyperactivity, he closes his eyes, taking another drag on the cigarette. He breaths out, slowly, before turning away from the screen. A thought strikes him, as he opens his eyes, gazing at the ceiling. "Say, Ed. Does this ship have any weapons?" he asks

Ed finally calms downs, as she looks up at Spike. After a second or so of thought, she laughs once, and scratches the back of her head. "Um.. Ed doesn't think so.. But Ed thinks Ed has a plan!" she exclaims, quite sure of her statement.

Spike sighs, as he sits upon the couch. He puts out his cigarette on the arm of it. He lays down, as he rolls onto his side, facing away from Ed. "Then tell me when we pass Mars. I'll take a nap until then." he mutters, before drifting into a restless sleep, haunted by dreams of past events. Particularly, surrounding Julia's and Anastasia's death. Why he was granted a reprieve from death, he still couldn't figure out. Perhaps, he should consult Laughing Bull to find out.


	7. Europian Bebop

Hey all you readers out there, glad you're still with me! Constructive criticism and pie, please! Oh, and sorry about the terrible delay. Also, sorry it's not terribly long. You should've seen what it was like BEFORE I edited it, haha '' anyway, so I hope you enjoy it. Trust me, though, when I say that the next one will be a bit longer

--Bounty Hunters in Space: The Story of Afterwards--

Chapter 7: Europian Bebop

* * *

Tuesday: 9:18 A.M., Europa orbit: The Bebop

Since the lack of return of Spike from the final confrontation, Jet and Faye had began to accept the fact that Spike may be deceased, albeit reluctantly. Faye had decided to stick with Jet, under the guise of needing to freeload and needing Jet's contacts for bounty hunting. Secretly, however, she was staying for personal reasons. In this time, all of the people she knew were either dead, old, gone, or she didn't care to see them, so she had nowhere to go. Also, the Bebop remains her only memory of Spike, and she wasn't even near prepared to leave that behind.

The pair rarely show their true feelings over their situation around each other, however, choosing to continue with their bounty hunting work in a futile attempt to keep their thoughts from Spike. However, their old habits remain the same. Faye is still vain, self-absorbed, money hungry, and a complainer as she'd always been. Jet is still the tough, intelligent, spiritual man he'd always been. Naturally, they'd both retained their smoking habits.

Inside the Bonsai Room, Jet lets out a sigh, as he uses his clippers to carefully trim one of the many bonsai trees. The loss of Spike had hit him rather hard, as even though they didn't always see eye-to-eye, they were pretty close comrades. He inspects the tree, before leaning back. "Maybe I should save up money to convert one of the rooms into a Zen garden, it might bring my soul peace.." he says quietly, then looks up, intrigued by his own idea. "A little feng shui wouldn't hurt, either."

Faye, meanwhile, stretches as she stops outside of the room. She glances at him, arching an eyebrow. "Are you still spending time with those stupid bonsai trees, Jet? How long does it take to cut a dumb little bush, anyway?" she asks, as she places her hands behind her head.

Jet snorts a bit, as he turns to her. He rests one arm on his leg, and leans on it a bit. "For your information, tending to and nurturing a bonsai tree can bring peace to the soul. In fact-" he begins, but is cut off by Faye.

"Blah blah blah. Spirituality, peace, whatever." she says, completely uninterested in Jet's little lecture about the finer spiritual arts of trimming bushes. She moves one arm, waving her hand in a dismissive fashion. "Well, stop. There's more important things to do." She draws a cigarette from her pocket, and lights it, taking a few puffs before a small grin appears on her face. "Big Shot just aired a big bounty.

Intrigued, Jet finishes his tree, and removes his gloves. He stands, and turns to her, brushing his hands off. "How much?" he asks, entering the hallway. He was genuinely interested. It had been a few weeks since their last bounty, and truth be told, they really needed both the money and the excitement. Atop that, he could potentially see his dream of an on-ship Zen garden with this kind of money.

Knowing she's caught his interest, her grin only widens, as she walks down the hall. She flicks her spent cigarette away, as she goes on. "Twelve mil. Interested?" she asks, despite already knowing the answer. Her voice is filled with an 'I know something you don't' quality. "I'll tell you what I know for half the bounty."

Jet sighs, as he shakes his head. "So much for the garden.' he thinks, as he picks up his pace, in order to walk next to her. "Fine. Now tell me what you know." he says. The thought of going to Bob for the needed information crossed his mind, however, without a name, he figured he would end up in the same exact location he was in now: with nothing.

Faye keeps her attention on her destination: the living area. "The guy's name is Alexander Smith. He worked for some company called Cybertronics Incorrporated and was busted stealing some technology junk and go over to their rivals. He ran off to Io with a ship and some technology, so he's dangerous, but we have to make sure the stuff is fine or no reward. They don't care if he's alive or dead."

Jed gives a single nod at the information. "That should make it easier and harder at the same time." he mutters to himself. He glances at Faye. "We'll sling around Europa to save fuel, so we should make it by tomorrow." he states. He makes a brisk exit from the living area, heading towards the bridge without another word.

Not particularly caring about the means in which they get there, so long as they arrive in time, she gives a light shrug, as she enters the living room. She Stretches a bit, as she lays down on the couch. "I remember that dirtball." she says, bitterly. "Where we crash landed, I woke up in toilet paper, Ed took the wrong mushrooms, and Spike.." She makes a face at the memory of him, as she rolls to face the couch. She closes her eyes. "I need a very, very long vacation."


End file.
